Split platen paper feed mechanism



March 29, 1955 Filed Aug. 21, 1953 H. M. FLEMING SPLIT PLATEN PAPER FEED MECHANISM 3 Shets-Sheet 1.

INVENTOR HOWARD M. FLEMING AGENT March 29, 1955 H. M. FLEMING 2,705,068

SPLIT PLATEN PAPER FEED MECHANISM Filed Aug. 21. 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR HOWARD M. FLEMHNG AGENT March 29, 1955 FLEMlNG 2,705,068

SPLIT PLATEN PAPER FEED MECHANISM Filed Aug. 21, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR HOWARD M. FLEMING AGENT SPLIT PLATEN PAPER FEED MECHANISM Howard M. Fleming, West Orange, N. J., assignor to Monroe Calculating Machine Company, Orange, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application August 21, 1953, Serial No. 375,680

Claims. (Cl. 197129) The present invention relates to paper feed mechanism for printing calculating machines or the like and more particularly to an improved means for advancing alternatively one or the other of separate record sheets supported independently upon a two part platen mounted within the shiftable carriage of said machines.

It is known in the art to employ independent split platen feed devices, one located on each of the end frames of the shiftable carriage and to operate selectively one or the other of said devices through means of a split actuating bail on the carriage wherein each section of said bail is brought into active cooperation with suitable cyclic power operating means of the base structure of the machine in accordance with the lateral position of the carriage. It may occur, however, in such feed device that under certain conditions, a carriage movement might be effected while the cyclic means in operating one section of the split feed bail is displaced out of alignment with the other section of the bail and this could cause interference with the carriage movement and possible damage to the parts. Also, unless special means are provided, it would be possible that one section of the feed bail might become positioned on the wrong side of the stroke movement of the cyclic operating means for the bail.

Other means well known to the art employ a single actuating feed bail which extends completely across the carriage and include cam means located on each side of the base structure of the machine adapted to cooperate with related suitably spaced rollers on the carriage to selectively enable and disable each of the platen feed devices. In such means when one portion of the split platen is moved into relation with the printing hammers one of the rollers engages its related cam means and enables op eration of the corresponding feed device while at the same time the other roller moves out of engagement with its cam and so disables the operation of the feed devices related to the other portion of the split platen. Such means however, require long extended cams and require proper clearance of parts to permit the rollers to move across the base structure of the machine.

An object of the present invention is the provision of improved means whereby split platen dual feed devices located one on each side of the shiftable carriage are controlled from one side of the base structure only, and in such manner that as one feed means is rendered effective the other will be rendered ineffective.

Among other advantages of the invention apparent from the following description is the elimination of such disadvantages above set forth in the heretofore known art.

With this and other incidental objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, the essential elements of which are set forth in the appended claims, and a preferred embodiment of which is hereinafter described with reference to the drawings which accompany and form part of the specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a right side elevation of the cyclic clutch control means and showing the paper feed devices related to the right hand section of the platen.

Fig. 2 is a left side elevation showing the paper feed devices for the left hand section of the platen.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevation of the platen carriage showing the split platen and controls therefor.

The invention is shown as applied to a listing calculatnit States Patent 0 2,705,06d Patented Mar. 29, 1955 'ice ing machine of well known type, such as disclosed in U. S. Patent 1,946,572 issued April 28, 1932 to Loring P. Crosman entitled Listing Calculator, and insofar as is practicable, like parts herein will be numbered in accordance with said patent.

It will be sufficient to say that, in operation, amounts set up on the usual digit keyboard are accumulated in one or more registers, either additively, by engagement of a register during the upward stroke, or subtractively, by engagement thereof during the downward stroke of reciprocatory actuating segments. The extent of movement of each segment is determined by the value of the corresponding set digit key, and type bars, connected with the segments are designed to bring type of corresponding values to the printing line. The record sheet and platen are supported in a transversely sh-iftable carriage, mounted upon a plurality of flanged rollers secured to the rear framing of the base structure of the machine, so that the accumulated values may be printed in any one of several columns. The accumulating printing and carriage shifting operations are preferably performed by power means under control of suitable operating keys.

As fully described in the aforementioned patent an operation of the plus or minus keys 138-439 will rock a latch lever 147 to disengage the hook end 148 thereof from the clutch release lever 150.

Disengagement of hook 148 from lever 150 will cause said lever, under influence of a spring 151 to be rocked out of engagement with the projection 152 of a pawl 153, pivotally mounted at 154 upon the crank arm 155, and cause said pawl under influence of its spring 156 to be rocked into engagement with a notched disc 157 having suitable drive connections with an electric motor.

During the above-described movement of lever 150, an insulated roller 159 mounted thereon will effect en gagement of the motor switch 65 and initiate an operating cycle of the machine.

During an operating cycle of the machine, crank arm 155, having link connection 161 with a cam arm 316 fast to a transverse shaft 301 will impart reciprocating movement to said cam. Cam 316 has link connection 162 with an arm 163 fast to a second transverse shaft 164 so that said movement of the cam 316 is transmitted to shaft 164 to effect an operation of the paper feed devices, in the manner to be described. Near the end of a cycle of operation a projection 370 of crank arm will contact an arm 371 of lever 150 and rock said lever into the path of movement of the projection 152 of clutch pawl 153 to disengage said pawl from driving disc 157 for terminating the operation.

Pivotally mounted at 165 (Fig. 2) upon a bracket 166, suitably secured to the rear casing of the machine, is a bell crank lever 167 provided with a roller 168, held by tension of a spring 169 against the surface 170 of an am 171, loosely secured to a shouldered hub 172 of an arm 173 fast to the shaft 164.

Arm 173 is provided with a pin 174 having engagement with a slotted opening 175 of arm 171. During an operation of shaft 164 by the forward movement of cam 316 said pin is carried downwardly and arm 171 is allowed to fall away from roller 168 to allow lever 167 to be rocked downwardly by spring 169.

A pin 176 fast to lever 167 has engagement with a lever 177 fast to a short shaft 178 mounted in bracket 166 which pin, during said movement of llever 167, will rock lever 177 and shaft 178 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2.

Secured to the shaft 178 is an arm 179 provided at its free end with a roller 217 underlying a transverse bail 216 pivotally mounted at 218--219 (Figs. 1 and 2) upon the left and right hand end plates 220-221 of the platen carriage. Roller 217 normally holds the bail 216 in raised position and during the above operation of shaft 178 arm 179 carries roller 217 downwardly releasing said bail for a downward movement and thereafter in a return movement of roller 217, upon restoral of shaft 164 by cam 316, bail 216 will effect a selective operation of the split platen paper feed devices in the manner to be described.

Pivotally mounted at 222223 upon rearwardly ex- 1, tending arms 224-425, formed by bending the left and right hand. ends of bail 216, are upwardly extending,

platen indexing pawls 226-227. Pawl 226 on the left end of bail 216 is provided with a lug 228 for cooperating with a ratchet wheel 229 fast with the left hand section A (Fig. 3) of the split platen whilepawl 227 isprovided with a similar lug 230 for cooperation with a ratchet wheel 231 fast with the right hand section B ofv the platen. Each of the pawls 226-227 is biased upwardly and toward its respective ratchet wheel by means of suitable tension springs 232-233 respectively. Indexing pawls 226-227 are provided with cam projections 226-227 respectively, adapted in the lowered normal condition of rest of said pawls for engagement with rollers 249-250 of suitable spring tensioned locator clicks 251-252 for the platen sections A and B to hold said pawls 226-227 out of engagement with the related ratchet wheels 229 and 231. In the above operation of bail 216, however, pawls 226-227 are carried upwardly and projections 226'227" moving away from rollers 249-250 will permit selective engagement of said pawls with their respective ratchet wheels 229, 231 under control of the means hereinafter to be described.

Means for selectively controlling paper feed devices Supported for rotative movement within the leftand right end frames 220-221 of the carriage and extending for convenience through the tubular frame spacing structure- 234 of the carriage is a shaft 235. To the left end of shaft 235 is secured a T-shaped lever 236 biased for counterclockwise movement as viewed in Fig. 2 by a spring 237. One arm of lever 236' is provided with a projection 238 adapted in a rightward movement of the platen carriage to engage the camming edge 239 (Fig, 3) of a cam member 240 secured by studs 241 to the rear casing of the machine, and rock said lever 236 into a clockwise, or forward position, as shown in Fig. 2. Thus, when the paper carriage is positioned with the left hand section A of the platen opposite the printing type 215, lever 236 will be held in its forward clockwise position wherein a pin 242 in said lever will be held free of the forward edge of the pawl 226, thereby permitting said pawl under' influence of spring 232 to be rocked into engagement with ratchet wheel 239, upon operation of said pawl by the bail 216. In a return movement of bail 216, lug 228 of pawl 226 advances the platen A, as will be described, during which operation the projection 226 reengages roller 250 to again rock the pawl 226 out of engagement with ratchet wheel 229'.

Fast to the right hand end of shaft 235 is a downwardly extending arm 243, the bifurcated lower edge of which embraces a pin 244 fast in one arm of a bail lever 245 pivotally mounted at 246 upon the carriage end plate 221. The other arm of bail lever 245 is provided with a pin 247- engaging the forward edge of the pawl 227. Thus, a movement of lever 236 and shaft 235' is transmitted to lever 245 in reverse manner through arm 242, so that in the described forward positioning of lever 236, lever 245 is positioned rearwardly and pin 247 will hold the pawl 227 rearwardly, whereby lug 230 is held out of engagement with the ratchet'wheel 231 related to the right hand section B of the paper platen.

In forward machine cycles of operation, bail 216 permits pawls 226-227 to raise under influence of their respective springs 232-233 and the parts being in the above described position, projection 228 will advance over the serrated teeth of ratchet wheel 229 while projection 230 moves freely of ratchet wheel 231.

Upon return movement of cam 316, link 162' and arm- 163 will rock shaft 164 clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2

and pin 174 of arm 173 will lift the lever 17'1 upwardly to cause the surface 170 of said lever, contacting roller 168, to rock the lever 167 counterclockwise about point 165, and pin 176 through lever 177 will rock shaft; 178 and arm, 179 clockwise. Upon clockwise movement of arm 179 roller 217 will lift the transverse bail 216 and pawls 226-227 are carried downwardly thereby, Whereupon projection 228 of pawl 226 engaging ratchet wheel 229 will advance the left end section A of the platen. Projection 230 of pawl 227, however, being held free of ratchet wheel 231 by pin 247, will move idly so that no movement of the right end section B is eifected.

In a lateral displacement leftward of the paper carriage to bring the right end section B of the paper platen opposite the printing type 215, projection 238 of lever 23.6..wil1. be carried. freeof. cam. 2.40, whereup n. lever. 236...

is caused to be rocked rearwardly by its spring 237. Upon rearward movement of lever 236 pin 242 engages pawl 226 to prevent the described subsequent engagement of projection 228 of said pawl with the ratchet wheel 229. Also, said movement of lever 236, acting through shaft 235, arm 243, bail lever 245 and pin 247 will release the. pawl 227' for a forward movement by its spring 233, so that projection 230 of said pawl at this time will be permitted to engage with ratchet wheel 231 of the platen section B, in the subsequent operation of bail 216, and will now operate to advance platen B while projections, 228 of pawl 226 operates idly relative to ratchet wheel 229 of platen A.

The sections A-B. of the. split platen may vary in length relative one to the other and are mounted in known manner within the framing 220-221 of the carriage, as shown in Fig. 3, wherein each section is rotatably. supported at, its. inner end upon a shaft or rod 248'.

extending the length of the platen and suitably recessed at each end for receiving stub shafts 250-251 rotatably bearinged in the end plates 220-221 of the carriage. The outer ends of each section A-B of the platen are secured by set screws, 252-253 to their respective shafts 250-251, to which shafts are also secured the ratchet wheels 229-231 as shown.

It will be obvious from the, foregoing description that the novel means embodied in the present invention for controlling independent platen feed devices for the two sections of a split platen carried in the shiftable carriage from a single cam located on one side of the base structure of the machine is not limited to one particular side only, but could aswell have been placed on the opposite side of the machine to that shown. Thus, since the length of the cam means 240 is directly related to the length of the.

related. platen section, said cam means may be kept to a minimum, length by being placed on that side which is related, to the shorter of the two platen, sections.

While the above description sets forth, a preferred embodiment of. the inventionand the manner of use to which it is to be put, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise form disclosed, but is susceptible of embodiment in various other forms.

What is claimed is:

1. In a, machine of the class described the combination comprising; a base structure, a laterally movable paper carriage; supported thereon, a sectional platen mounted upon. said carriage, each section adapted for an independent spacing operation, line spacing mechanism for each platen section including a wheel fast with each section and related indexing means for each of said wheels, an actuator common to said indexing means and cyclically operable means for imparting movement to. said actuator; control means mounted on the carriage and common toall of said line spacing mechanisms, means onone end of the carriage for adjusting said control means, and operating means for said adjusting means located on said base. structure and cooperable with said, adjusting means at one predetermined side only of said base structure to adjust said control means, and wherein said adjustment selectively enables certain of said line spacing mechanism, and disables others or vice versa in accordance with the lateral, displacement of said carriage.

2. In a machine of the classdescribed the combination comprising a base structure, a laterally movable paper carriage supported thereon, a two-part platen mounted within; said carriage, linespacing mechanism for said platen parts including a ratchet wheel and operatingpawl related to each part, an actuator bail extending transversely of said carriage and common to said line spacing mechanisms, cyclic operating means including amember adapted for imparting movement to said actuator bail; control means on the carriage common to both of said pawls and adapted for controlling adjustment of one of saidpawls. to an effective position for engagementwith its' related ratchet wheel while. simultaneously controlling adjustment of the other of said pawls to an ineffective position relative, to its related ratchet Wheel, operating means for said controlmeans located at one end of the carriage, and means on one sideof said. base structure cooperable with said operating means to effect an operation. of said control means to selectively enable one. of said line spacing means and to disable the other of said line spacing means in accordance with a lateral displacement of said platen carriage.

3. In a machine of the class described the combination comprising a base structure, a movable paper carriage supported thereon, a two part platen mounted within the end framing of said carriage, line spacing mechanisms for said platen parts including a Wheel for rotating each of said parts, a transverse bail pivoted upon the end framing of the carriage, indexing pawls for said Wheels mounted each upon the related end portions of said bail and movable therewith to effect an independent spacing operation of the related platen part, and a cyclically operable member for imparting movement to said bail; control devices for said line spacing mechanisms including means upon one end frame of said carriage for enabling or disabling the related indexing pawl, means on the opposite encl frame of said carriage for enabling or disabling the other of said indexing pawls, connections on the carriage including a shaft between said enabling or disabling means, an operating member for said control devices mounted upon one end of said shaft, and a cam mounted on the corresponding side of said base structure adapted for cooperation with said operating member in a lateral movement of the carriage to effect an operation of said control devices and thereby in accordance with the columnar position of said carriage selectively rendering the indexing pawls effective or ineffective relative to advancing their respective platen parts.

4. The invention in accordance with claim 3 and including reversing means in the said connections between said enabling or disabling means for the indexing pawls whereby the said enabling or disabling of one of said indexing pawls also concurrently effects an alternative adjustment of the other of said indexing pawls.

5. In a machine of the class described the combination comprising a base structure, printing means thereon, a movable paper carriage supported on said structure, a two part platen mounted within the carriage for independent rotation, line spacing mechanism for said platen including a ratchet wheel rotatable with each of said platen parts, a transverse bail having end portions mounted for pivotal movement in the :right and left end framing of said carriage, cyclically operable means including a member adapted to impart reciprocatory movement to said bail, an indexing pawl for each of said ratchet wheels mounted upon the related end portions of and movable with said bail to effect a spacing operation of the related platen part, means biasing the said pawls to- Ward engagement with their respective ratchet wheels, means normally holding the pawls out of engagement with said wheels and adapted in the said operation of said pawls to release the pawls for a selective engagement with their related ratchet wheels, control devices for selectively controlling the path of movement of said pawls, including a shaft mounted transversely Within the end framing of the carriage, a lever fast upon one end of said shaft and cooperable with one of said pawls, a second lever pivoted to the opposite carriage end framing and cooperable with the other of said pawls, an arm secured to the opposite end of said shaft to said first lever and having pivotal connection with said second lever, and cam means on one side of the base structure cooperalble with the first said lever in a lateral movement of the carriage to effect an adjustment of said levers whereby the lever related to that platen part moved out of relation with the print ing means will prevent engagement of the index pawl related to said platen part with its ratchet wheel while the other of said levers concurrently adjusts its related pawl for engagement With the ratchet Wheel related to that platen part moved into relation with the printing means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,170,708 Thieme Feb. 8, 1916 2,287,405 Anderson June 23, 1942 

